George R.R. Martin Said ‘Winds of Winter’ isn’t Coming in 2018

When we heard winter was coming, we thought it be faster

More bad news for “Game of Thrones” fans was announced today, not only is the next season delayed to 2019, it seems the next book won’t be ready to publish until next year as well.

Author George R.R. Martin told fans that the next installment in the series, The Winds of Winter, won’t publish in 2018. The news comes as Martin releases his new book, which is not a novel, but a history lesson set within the world. This new volume is part-one of the Fire and Blood set, which tells the fictitious history within the Game of Thrones universe. The installment focuses on events leading up to story-lines that we witnessed in the show and in the already released books. Fire and Blood will cover the history of House Targaryen and takes place up to 300 years prior to the traditional Game of Thrones lore.

As for Winds of Winter, that will be the six-book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, and fans have been waiting for it for a very long time. The fifth book in the series, A Dance with Dragons, released all the way back in 2011. That was even before “Game of Thrones: Season 1” even aired its first episode. Entertainment Weekly reported that Martin wrote, “No, winter is not coming… not in 2018, at least.” Martin added, “You’re going to have to keep waiting for The Winds of Winter. You will, however, be able to return to Westeros this year. I do want to stress… indeed, I want to shout… that Fire and Blood is not a novel. This is not a traditional narrative and was never intended to be… let’s call this one ‘imaginary history’ instead…. As for me, I’m returning once again to The Winds of Winter.”

The good news is that you can pre-order Fire and Blood already, the new installment is available on Amazon.com starting at $16.

The problematic release of Winds of Winter could be because of the HBO series. If both the book and the show have the same ending, the network would certainly want the book to be released after the show’s finale. We should be clear that Martin and HBO have never publicly stated that a deal was ever in place, but it’s starting to get suspicious that every time there’s a delay in the production of the series, the book isn’t ready. Well, at least you have time to read through that box-set one more time before the next installment is ready.